At a recent AUSD Board of Education meeting, members of the Alhambra Fire Department and Alhambra High School were honored for their heroic actions in the midst of a crisis situation that occurred on the high school campus.
Last month, the Alhambra Fire Department received an emergency call from AHS school nurse Anita Man regarding a student that had collapsed in a classroom just as the school day had begun. Man immediately began CPR as AHS principal Duane Russell and campus supervisors arrived to classroom D313, which is situated in the corner of the campus. Paramedics arrived on scene expeditiously as Assistant Principal Eric Medrano and campus supervisors provided easy access to the location by opening the north gate and completely clearing students and teachers from the area. Upon arrival, paramedics determined that the student was in full cardiac arrest and performed life saving CPR for approximately ten minutes before the student was revived. The student was then transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital where additional treatment was administered and the student was stabilized.
As a gesture of gratitude for their life saving efforts, eleven first responding paramedics and firemen were publicly recognized and presented with certificates of gratitude at the January 31, Board of Education meeting. Principal Duane Russell spoke on the matter, thanking his administrators and paramedics for their swift action. “We were all just doing our jobs,” Russell said, referring to AHS’ flawless execution of emergency protocol. The sophomore student made a full recovery and has since returned to school.